The Ghost In Your Heart

A Fragment

Jungkook took a deep breath to steady himself and went for the door. When he opened, he noticed Namjoon leaning against the wall, reading something on his phone. He looked up at the sound of the door.

"Hey." Namjoon smiled awkwardly. "I... you looked like you needed some time by yourself. Are you okay?" He asked.

Jungkook stared. "Why..?" Was all he managed to say, surprised to see Namjoon there. He couldn't possibly have been waiting for him, or?

"Why what?" Namjoon asked.

"Why are you... still here?" Jungkook clarified, looking down again. Namjoon had noticed that Jungkook did that a lot. Avoided people's eyes.

"Waiting for you." Namjoon said.

Jungkook felt a tug at his heart. "Oh." He said.

"...I don't think we got properly introduced. I'm Kim Namjoon." Namjoon stretched out his hand for Jungkook to shake.

"Jeon....Jeon Jungkook." Jungkook mumbled shyly and took the offered hand. Namjoon's hand was warm, it felt nice.

"So Jungkook, have you eaten yet? Jin hyung is buying today, wanna join?" Namjoon asked.

Jungkook was surprised by the offer. His mind quickly recovered and tried to come up with excuses, reasons why he couldn't join. Namjoon sensed that, and decided to take the choice out of Jungkook's hands. He wanted to bring him along to repay him for the rudeness the other day.

"C'mon, it'll be fun." He smiled.

Jungkook felt it would just be easier to agree at this point. So he nodded and tagged along. Namjoon didn't say much on the way, but somehow it was comfortable like that. Jungkook didn't feel pressured to make any conversation or to explain anything, which was nice. He couldn't even explain his actions to himself, so how could he do it for someone else?

They reached the pizza place after a little walk. Taehyung almost dropped his slice when he saw Jungkook walk in. Taehyung didn't understand why he felt so flabbergasted every time he saw Jungkook. It was like he had many things to ask, but had no right to ask anything. And that was a strange feeling. When Jungkook ended up opposite to Taehyung, half his pizza toppings dripped down from the forgotten slice in his hand. Jungkook looked at the lost toppings, then looked up at Taehyung, and their eyes met. Namjoon started babbling something about Kafka, and Jungkook looked away. He felt a need to be polite and listen. But Taehyung kept staring. There was something burning stronger and stronger in the back of his mind every time he saw Jungkook, and he was incredibly frustrated that he couldn't figure out what bothered him.

"Taehyung-ah, are you okay?" Jin, sitting to his right, asked gently.

"...I don't know. My head kind of hurts." Taehyung admitted.

"Ah...it was a tumultuous experience with the ghost after all." Jin said and started searching the pockets in his bag. "Do you want a painkiller?" He asked.

Taehyung shook his head. "No... I think I'll just go home early."

"Okay. Will you manage on your own?" Jin asked.

"Yeah." Taehyung said. He felt tired and in need of a rest. "Guys, I'll be leaving early." Taehyung said.

"Oh? Why?" Namjoon interrupted his book review.

"Sleepy." Taehyung said.

"You and me both. I'm going." Yoongi said and got up. He did look sleepy, but that was one of his usual expressions. "Hoseok, are you staying" he asked.